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Remember when E3 was just a couple of days? Those were good days, those were the days that we’d get a big shot of everything good and bad, then a few days later we’d forget about it. That’s how I like my E3 and faux-E3, not drawn out over two months (so far.) Now there are rumors that the next Ubisoft Forward is coming in September, Sony has still got one or two showcases to do before the PS5 reveal. Following yesterday, Microsoft/Xbox has about one or two to get done before we have our hands on the Xbox Series X.

With that, let’s jump right into the Xbox Games Showcase for July 2020, or rather the pre-show. Yes, it was a 45-minute preamble hosted by that guy from the Game Awards, Danny O’Dwyer of No Clip, and two people I didn’t recognize. I’m glad it was very informative! Though it did bring some interesting points to the show, I’m surprised some of it wasn’t in the actual showcase itself.

I don’t have to point out how much I want Watch Dogs: Legion by now. I’ve been pining for it since about early 2017 when it was teased. Yet, Ubisoft can only put a band-aid over a gaping wound for so long. This trailer drop was mostly to cover up the stereotypical Pepé Le Pew French reaction to claims of sexual harassment and misconduct that Yves Guillemot made. I love Ubisoft and Ubisoft games to no end, but either Guillemot reacts now and acts fast or more of these game teaser trailers will have to be made. More claims will rack up for Ubisoft, I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Though, to talk about the trailer for a moment. It looks nice, but we didn’t get anything new. The villains are still villainous, the protagonists are still propagandizing, and the future city of London still looks like one of the most refreshing things in open worlds in years. Watch Dogs Legion is available on October 29th.

We’ll ignore the useless YouTubers and people I’ve never heard of/don’t want to talk about. Instead, we’ll talk about Stranger-er Things, at least it might as well have named itself that given how on the nose the entire soundtrack, gameplay, and overall feel was. Yes, Echo Generation, which might as well be the term used for our repeated nostalgia that we see every 20-30 years, is a Stranger Things-esque title. It is 80s nostalgia filtered through Mother 2/EarthBound with a gorgeous high pixel voxel-style, sometimes pushed through a tilt-shift lens.

Stranger Things isn’t particularly my thing, though I do know that Lisa would lap this one up in a heartbeat if it were on the Nintendo Switch. Being developed by Toronto’s Cococucumber, this turn-based adventure is set to release on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Steam PC sometime in 2021. This is one I’m sure many will be keeping on their radar.

The next one is an odd choice, I’ll agree. Hello Neighbor 2 was announced as a sequel to the critically (and commercially) panned horror game, Hello Neighbor. I remember hearing nothing but good things in the alpha, then suddenly a lot of people hated it and still do. A sequel makes this ever stranger, as no one who played the first will likely return. Those that do will likely be in small numbers.

To draw two comparisons, no one liked Watch_Dogs (you’re lying if you say you do), but I’ll yell and scream about Watch_Dogs 2 being fantastic. Though in the same vein, I’ll go against the grain and say Fallout 4 is amazing while following in the grain that Fallout 76 is god awful. If you can only be one of these, I’d like to know how Tiny Build plan to be the former. It should be interesting to see how the stealth horror game is received.

Next came the agreed-upon mention of indie games before the Halo fans get to moan in their droves. You know what this is, small, emotional, and fun bites, as well as arty expressions of someone’s passion. I love it when indie games are that way. In the pre-show, we didn’t get the full 6-minutes shown above, but we did get a couple of minutes of quick glimpses of games like Shaun White-sim Shredders, supernatural story Last Stop, 12-minutes, rock-opera Artful Escape, foxy Zelda in Tunic, light-hearted story Lake, French comic book come to life Sable, and more.

Other than those already mentioned, I want to see more of Exo One, The Falconeer, Unexplored, and couch co-op party game (what’s wrong with me?) Mad Streets. Ok, yes I get that is mostly everything shown, but I said it, I love it when someone is expressing their passion for games. That is what true indie development is, not making another Flappy Bird or battle royale so you can purge money from people.

Then there was the reveal of something I didn’t expect, an anime/JRPG in the style of A Hat In Time. Yes, Balan Wonderworld is a beautifully pristine mix of an adventure game we know too well in the west, with the typical Japanese style of “cute” and pretty. Oh yeah, and that horrifying hat-man thing that I don’t know how to feel about. On one hand, it is a very Persona/Mario Odyssey style of hat-man, on the other hand, the face under it looks like it stands on the line of racist caricature.

Ok, we’ll take a step back from my observations, and look at the game about innocence. It is going to be something someone loves to death, and I can’t fault Alexx for that. If you want something that’s all the adventure games done through a Japanese style, you are going to have fun with Balan Wonderworld.

Starting the main showcase with the world’s most boring games series, we finally got a slice of Halo Infinite gameplay. Have I just annoyed some people? Yes, but that’s enough about me enjoying Fallout 4. Halo Infinite is once again teasing the “fin” in infinite. “The end is never the end is never the end is never the end,” to quote The Stanley Parable. If you like Halo, you’ve already got an opinion on this one. If you haven’t played them, this isn’t going to be a great start.

Once again, Matt Preston has to protect the broken ring from the Helghast, or whatever they are called. Ok, yes that tortured Masterchef joke aside, the man in the green suit shoots the rather unresponsive aliens with dull guns and they fall down. It is a Halo game, once again there will be a campaign that will draw snickers from the other triple-A games, and people will moan that the game is bad because of something rather incidental. Once again 343 will be blamed because they aren’t Bungie, and I’ll once again ignore the series until the next one is announced. So, the usual cycle.

This next one I wasn’t expecting for another couple of years, State of Decay 3. It could also be called The Last of Me Part III. We didn’t see gameplay, we didn’t see anything close to details about the gameplay, or anything else. It was a short bullshot of a woman in the snowy woods finding a zombie horse; sorry, encephalitis cordyceps mutated horse. Being serious for a moment, I quite liked the somewhat dull and lacking triple-A money on the screen excitement of State of Decay 2, as I wrote long before writing here.

However, I don’t know what to think of State of Decay 3, we’ve seen literally nothing but the logo. Is it just the second, but somewhere else? There was no point in really showing us that without context. It was like doing that grand bombastic reveal of “The Elder Scrolls 6” a couple of years ago. We’re two years on from that, and we still know nothing. Though I do believe that Microsoft will push Undead Labs a little to showcase something at the very least by the end of next year, otherwise that reveal was entirely useless.

Speaking of entirely useless, Forza Motorsport was announced. No, those drugs you have taken have not kicked in yet. Microsoft/Xbox have decided to do a Vince McMahon and remove the number from Wrestlemania, I mean, the Forza Motorsport series. Yes, what would have been the 8th game in the series is going to be confused by gaming historians as the 2005 release of Forza Motorsport, a game that will look awful in comparison.

Once again, the reveal was not actual gameplay. As this is the part of the Forza series, it is about driving very seriously on race tracks with stupid vehicles likes of custom racing Pagani Zondas, racing trucks, and probably a car they brought down through your ceiling as you watch the teaser. Since they explicitly stated that the footage was in-engine, expect to see the gameplay in a few months and the game in the next year to about a year and a half.

Strangely enough, the next game was in fact Pokémon. It wasn’t, it was Rare’s next game about being some witches (No, not ones being transphobic) in a forest as they control fantasy animals to do some fantasy nonsense. Everwild isn’t a new announcement. It was revealed back in November of 2019, though I’m sure it is the first time many are seeing or hear about it, myself included.

Again, this is going to be one that if you like the look of it, you are going to love it to death. If you’re not too sure, I’d suggest picking it up as part of Gamepass when it inevitably comes to the subscription service. It would be nice to know a little more about it, but I think it looks pretty and will be nice for someone to enjoy.

Next up was DONTNOD’s next game. No it is not Life is Stranger (things) 3. Tell Me Why is another supernatural narrative experience about two twins that had a rather tenuous childhood. Looking like every fine and very attractive pairing playing these types of damaged characters, it is another one of their games about feelings. If you’re into it, go wild, I’ll be playing one of the ID@Xbox things.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is getting a good kick up the behind for Xbox Series X performance. A re-release of the side-scrolling adventure will take the game up to 4K at 120 FPS, one of the most wasted uses of all that power. To quote a man that wants to run for president though is oddly insane, “no one man should have all that power!” Well, it seems someone is giving too much power to Moon Studios and they are wasting it on something that would do fine at 1080P 60 FPS.

If you like alien planets and 1950’s style aesthetics, you’ll love Fallout in space; I mean, The Outer Worlds. Now the space adventure game is taking one bold step on to Gorgon, with the Peril on Gorgon DLC. Looking like a trailer for the sci-fi B-movies of the 40s-60s, the Peril on Gorgon DLC will take you on an adventure through the spoof sci-fi perils and dangers of the Gorgon mystery. The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon DLC will release on September 9th, 2020.

If you’ve ever wanted to be in A Bug’s Life, you’ve been waiting for Obsidian to release their survival-crafting horror game Grounded. They don’t tell you it is horror, but I don’t want to be eaten by a giant spider, and I don’t plan to. There is a reason I own two cats. They run shifts on Spider Watch. I did like the jokes, but I am not touching this game with a ten-foot bargepole. Grounded finally releases, after two years of waiting, on Tuesday, July 28th.

Continuing with Obsidian, Avowed is their next big RPG-thing that everyone has been raving on about. Really, it looks like it will be Skyrim 2: Electric Boogaloo. There is, of course, no gameplay as has become common with these things. However, I’m sure soon enough we’ll see a bit of that. There was no gameplay, and no details of the setting other than that it is set in Eora, the world of Pillars of Eternity. There is of course no release date as of yet, so expect to be waiting a couple of years for this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzxEBfBrcQ

As Dusk Falls is another one of those emotional games, but I don’t know if the trailer (above) is meant to be the style of the game, or if that was an arty way of showcasing it. From screenshots, it looks to be a bit more high detail than the realistic oil painting look of the trailer. I wasn’t joking when I said it seemed to be an emotion-based game; it comes from Caroline Marchal, a former Quantic Dream designer. Yes, a break up from David Cage left this new London-based studio, Interior/Night, attempting to prove to some of the staff’s ex-employer that they are worth more.

We were then told by Ninja Theory to go check out their YouTube channel, as they have some new dev diary on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. That reminds me: This week David and Mike played a bit of Sponge Bob, and David re-reviewed L,A Noire this week too. Check out our YouTube channel for those videos. Anyway, it is a dev diary, I don’t care and no one does. Go away!

Ok, now give me Tim Schafer and Jack Black with a colorful, psychedelic, and musical Psychonauts 2 trailer? The video above doesn’t have much of the Jack Black live-action sections, but it is perfect. He’s off rocking out while Raz is on a weed high through someone’s brain. Just give me an hour of that and I’d be happy as long as Jack Black is providing the soundtrack. More, please! There is still no date set for the release, though it will still release on PS4, PC (and Mac), along with Xbox One and Series X.

Next up was the best example of a good explanation to what I was about to see. As you may have parsed with my comments in the Twitch Prime articles, I don’t know or care for Destiny 2. The set up for the Destiny 2: Beyond Light trailer was something about the next generation bringing the game to 4K 60FPS, so I thought this was a re-release or update of some kind with all the expansion nonsense, nope. This is the next expansion for the looter shooter. Shows how little I know, or care.

Ya know, people on the internet that own late 20th-century gasmasks have a penchant for Russian and Soviet-Russian novels. Particularly, Dmitry Glukhovsky’s Metro series and Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Panic being their reading material. The latter is the basis of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, a highly popular cult following by those that own gas masks and full-body bio suits, there were three games released between 2007 and 2009. In late 2010, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was announced and later canceled, then re-announced in 2018. Since then the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 site has featured “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2 2.0.2.1.” It is expected to hit that 2021 release window.

Another group I don’t understand on the internet, Warhammer 40K players, what is your series about? I always understood it to be turn-based given the miniature table-top roots or real-time strategy, hence why I own some of the games. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, has large-scale battles, and that’s what you’re good at. Darktide just looked like another horror first-person shooter. I don’t know why, but good on you, it looks like another World War Z-style shooter game where an ocean of zombies washing over you.

Next up was Tetris Effect: Connected, after two years on the PS4, a year on PC, and month on the Oculus Quest, what is heralded as the best Tetris game is finally coming to the Xbox. Coming with a vague “holiday 2020” release window for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X, Tetris Effect: Connected also brings multiplayer into the mix. I’ve no idea how that works, and it wasn’t explained in great detail. Strangely enough, I am interested in this one when it releases once again on the Xbox family of systems.

The Gunk, how I would explain some of this brief showcase, is the next game from the developers of the wonderful Steamworld/Steamworld Dig series. You play as a woman exploring a fully realized 3D alien world collecting the titular gunk, it seems. It is an all-absorbing black gloopy substance that is infecting the planet. Full of action and adventure, if you’re a fan of exploring and finding things to collect, this might be the game for you. The Gunk is set to release on the Xbox family and Windows PC in “fall 2021.”

Continuing with titles of The followed by an un-descriptive word, The Medium looks to be a mediocre horror where you balance between two timelines. Out of the entire 2-minute long trailer, there is one nice visual of a knife carving through what looks to be stretches of skin sewn into a wall. Other than that visual, there is nothing that stood out from this game that looked like every-horror game with a dark timeline and a grotesque timeline from H.R Giger’s wet dreams.

Do you like anime? Do you like what the Sonic Team excreted out at 4:55 on a Friday because of Nostalgia? Do you also like playing MMOs? Oh boy, do I have a rather dull looking game for you! Ok, no it’s not the one from Sonic Team, it looks to be a complete redux of the 2012 free-to-play MMO action RPG, Phantasy Star Online 2. Yes, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis brings the MMO to consoles in the west once again on Xbox, but it didn’t explain much. All we do know is New Genesis is set for 2021.

Speaking of online games that are popular in Asia, CrossFire X was shown off again following last year’s showcase at E3. Though it was announced that the game would be releasing sometime this year for Xbox One and would be free-to-play, there was no date shown. Mostly just a vertical slice of the campaign that Remedy has been working with Smilegate on.

The final game that I’m sure Alexx (my editor) has probably been yelling at me to get to has been something I’m sure he has wanted for some time. I know many others wanted it too. High fantasy role-playing video game? New ground is being broken with this one, I’ll tell you that for free. That’s not just the Peter Molyneux over-promise, it is the truth, there has never been a game quite like it.

You’ll remember the other week, I spoke about some Twitter placeholders, it seems both are true though one isn’t playing their lie all too well. Yes, the Fable one as it turns out, is the new Fable game being developed by Playground Games. The developers are also the folks behind Forza‘s open-world series of Horizon. I should take a moment and point out that Perfect Dark account has only retweeted official affiliates of the Xbox showcase yesterday in the last 24-hours. It pulls the curtain right back on that social media manager’s poor job of hiding it. Expect that to be revealed soon enough.

There isn’t a lot to say about the new Fable, as it is just another title that will ruin some poor chronologist’s life one day. It is a humorous little trailer, though tells us very little of the actual game. I’m sure in the coming months and year we’ll hear more about that one, along with quite a few others.

I may have gone on for what feels like forever, but I want to highlight something. Don’t worry, it isn’t the misconduct at Ubisoft, again. I want to bring up the fact that Sony and Microsoft are playing their cards a little too close to their chests. We’re just under four months away from the latest possible date each company has released consoles in November. We could see release in the first week of December. However, we don’t know the release date, pre-orders (at the time of writing) haven’t gone out, we don’t know the price, and again, we’re four months away from rough deadlines.

We don’t really know what is happening with the production of both respective consoles, but that’s up in the air with COVID-19. We don’t know if Sony and Microsoft are still using Foxconn, a Thai electronics contractor. All we know about the Series X is that Seagate will manufacture the SSD memory cards for extendable storage, but that’s it. We only just saw the PS5 last month, the PS4 was revealed early in its release year and the consumer release was announced in early August. The next two months are going to get very interesting, very fast.

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